Podcast 133 – Bad Syntax & Mean Teeth (MIX + INTERVIEW!)

This week we are back with a MASSIVE guest mix by forthcoming Abducted LTD artists “Mean Teeth” who are absolutely on FIRE right now in the Drum and Bass world! Learn a little more about the Trio below, and make sure to catch their guest mix on this weeks podcast!

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/bestdnb

1. So you are the new guy around Mean Teeth, tell our viewers a little bit about yourself and your background.

Sup! I’m Alo and was born in a small town called Paide, Estonia. I have lived most of my life in a tiny village named Sargvere, where I grew up. It was a really peaceful and creative environment for spending my childhood there. I was deeply interested in the cosmos and everything involved in it. I remember that at some point my only goal was to be an astronaut. I have always been interested in exploring new things and looking at things from a different angle.

So how did my musical journey begin? When I started skateboarding, I listened to quite a lot of rock music and my interest in playing drums grew. As I didn’t have enough money to buy a drum kit, I basically built it myself. I remember I constructed a kick drum pedal out of wood and some rubber 😃
Also, I played in band for some time, where I practiced my drum playing skills. As I was pretty nutty about drums in elementary school, I remember banging sticks, pens, pencils, and basically everything at hand, to pieces. It became a bit of a problem when my desk mate often discovered that his pencil is in five pieces again 😀

It didn’t take long before I discovered drum and bass. One of the first artists that started attracting my attention were DJ Hype, Dillinja, Dieselboy etc. As drum and bass was such a rare style at that time, the music seemed really unusual, refreshing and weird at the same time. When I went to high school in 2005, I got acquainted with friend who listened to lot of drum and bass, especially the darker side. It was at that time that I started thinking about how dnb was created and why couldn’t I give it a try. The biggest influences at that time were Desimal, Black Sun Empire, State of Mind, Phace, Noisia, Pendulum, Ed Rush & Optical, Spor etc. Neurofunk seemed like science fiction to me at that time. I just had to figure out how all this stuff was made…

2. How long have you been producing music and what has been your direction with it?

I have been producing music for about 8 years, sometimes less, sometimes more. I started with Mixcraft and used FL Studio for a while, but eventually I ended up with Reaper. The first years of producing were pretty depressing and mind bending because the mixdowns were muddy, snares were crappy, basslines were boring etc. As I slowly learned how to use different tools and synths, the results started to get better. I used a pair of Creative multimedia speakers and a laptop that overheated at the right moment when you had some really nice reece looping 😀 But it didn’t stop me from producing. At the beginning, I did some softer tunes, because I felt like I wasn’t ready for neurofunk. Still, my aim has always been to bring heavier and darker sounds to my tracks. I believe that drum and bass is the kind of style where you can go nuts and feel no limits.

When speaking about how a nice neurofunk drum and bass track should sound, I would say it has to have enough dynamics (not over compressed, distorted), well saturated high end, basslines with a good mid-range, unexpected transitions, dark pads, atmospheres etc.

3. What kind of music do you listen to when it comes to dnb?

I listen to lot of different styles of dnb, depends on the mood. But when speaking of favorite artists, then (naming just a few in random sequence): The Upbeats, Misanthrop, Nickbee, Mefjus, Hybris, Black Sun Empire, Emperor, InsideInfo, Posij, Sinthetix, Phace, Noisia, Current Value, Desimal, Calyx & TeeBee, Calibre, Ed Rush & Optical, Logistics, Fourward, Future Prophecies, Neosignal, Sunchase, Rawtekk…

4. Do you have any earlier achievements in dnb?

Speaking of releasing tracks, I have released a tune called “Mystery Box” through Ammunition Recordings (Ammunition Vs NeurofunkGrid: Talents LP Volume One). It was also uploaded to the NeurofunkGrid YouTube channel and I was pretty happy about it because it gave me lots of motivation and belief that I am able to produce neurofunk drum and bass. There was a release on Santoku Recordings with a track called “Solaris”. This one was a collab with Marius and Logam. I’ve had couple of other releases as well but it was with a really random label and I would’nt mention it here 😀 I was producing as an artist called Cosmistic until I joined with Mean Teeth.

5. Tell us more about how you linked up with the original members of Mean Teeth.

I met Marius in 2012, after I released Mystery Box, through SoundCloud. He really liked the track and started to chat with me about doing a collaboration. So we sent some stems to each other and it turned out pretty well. We were both after some heavy, darker, funky vibes and I liked working with him. As I moved to Tallinn, there was a time when I didn’t produce as much and somehow our collaboration basically died.
The first time I got acquainted with Mark was at Marius’ birthday this year, so I know him about 4 months from now.

6. How did you get to the point where you were chosen as a third member of Mean Teeth?

I started sending tracks to Marius just to hear what he thinks of them, what to improve etc. At that moment, I just wanted to make tunes. I also sent some stems which he edited to his own vision which made me realize that working as a team can bring much better results. Before that, I didn’t have any certain vision on whether to work solo or with someone else but after a couple of months, Marius and Mark decided that I should join with Mean Teeth and I agreed. And now I’m more than pleased to work with them!

7. What is your role/aim in Mean Teeth?

My role in Mean Teeth? Producing music of course! 😀 As I’m not very experienced in Dj-ing, I haven’t played live, yet! I believe it’s just a matter of time when I get my ears properly trained for that though.

8. What are your ambitions in Mean Teeth? What are the goals you want to achieve?

I think the main purpose would be just producing music, that’s what it’s all about after all. We just make music, constantly sending new ideas to each other and seeing what happens. Although we have everything pretty well organized, the work load is endless! It’s pretty obvious that me and all three of us aim for bigger labels, festivals etc. Like Marius said, we’re gonna drill a new asshole to the drum and bass scene! 😀

9. Why Mean Teeth? Why do you want to belong to Mean Teeth?

Why Mean Teeth? Well… why not? 😀 Working with people with whom you not only have fun making music with but also chill out is very motivating and keeps the team together. I can’t find any reasons why I wouldn’t want be in Mean Teeth.

10. Would you like to add something?

I would like to add that I’m really glad that I’m able to make a contribution to the Estonian and the world-wide scene as well. It means a lot to me. Without dnb my life would have one big empty hole.
Thanks to: all my friends, everyone who have given me tips on how to produce music better, my family, everyone who introduced dnb to me…

11. So Mark & Marius, why did you decide to bring on an additional member to be a part of Mean Teeth?

Mark: from the get go, Mean Teeth was a project that was destined to be bigger than me or Marius. We were open to include someone if we felt that their tastes aligned with us. However, most importantly, I think Alo brings a lot of new ideas and a different perspective, which is absolutely great, since this synthesis of different viewpoints is what makes our team so special in my opinion.
Marius: I have known Alo for atleast 4-5 years and we collaborated before the Mean Teeth project. Ive always loved his production. I think we even discussed possible duo project hahah. He was away from production for some time and when he came back he started to send me demos and I just figured it would be good idea to bring him in Mean Teeth. His style of production for me is unique and he will be proper addition to Mean Teeth.

12. What do you think Alo brings to the table in regards to production?

Mark: I think he has a very good sense of what “neurofunk” is or should be. He has an immense baggage of skill which is obviously a plus too!

Marius: Like i said his production is very unique. For me his sound and ideas for me sound like early days Neosignal stuff aswell Noisia.

13. Have you done any tunes with him? Or is that still in the pipeline.

Mark: We’ve already done a couple of remixes which are awaiting release and have a number of original tunes in the pipeline. It’s looking good!

Marius: Much stuff in pipe and yes we have done earlier collabs aswell.

Well thats it for the interview, and thanks again to the new and even more improved MEAN TEETH! If you havent yet, make sure to check out the podcast featuring Mean Teeth and myself, Bad Syntax. Info is below!

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/bestdnb

Bad Syntax Tracklist

1. Dose – Birth By Design [Abducted LTD – OUT THIS MONDAY!]
2. Redpill – Repulsion [Eatbrain]
3. Synergy – Radiation [Trendkill]
4. Kursiva – Hoodlum (Gradual RMX) [Kinetik]
5. Akov – Space Bears [Titan]
6. Dose – The Summoning [Abducted LTD]
7. Redpill & Zombie Cats – Red Cat [Eatbrain]
8. The Clamps – MK Ultra [Impact]
9. Kursiva – Shattered [Kinetik]
10. Current Value – Leave Behind [Critical]
11. Skynet – Stuck in Mind [Program]
12. Dose – Cultivate [Abducted LTD]
13. Synergy – Turn it Out [Trendkill]
14. Malux – Warp Drive [Eatbrain]
15. Dubape & Phentix – Get It [Mainframe]
16. Kursiva – Preditah [Kinetik]
17. Synth Ethics – Recognize [The Dreamers]
18. Dose – Sanctuary [Abducted LTD]
19. Akrom, Disphonia & Impak – Lifecycle [Red Light]
20. Akov – Parasites [Titan]
21. Emporer – Bad Blood [Critical]
22. Skynet – Mind Eraser (Chook RMX) [Full Force]
23. 2whales – Slam [Warfare]
24. Dose – This Is It [Abducted LTD]
25. Akrom – Underminded [Red Light]
26. Redpill – Im The Law [Eatbrain]
27. Akov – Full Cycle [Titan]
28. Kursiva, Loop Stepwalker & Few But Crazy – Speedline [Kinetik]
29. Dose – Let Me Go [Abducted LTD]
30. Malux – Fulcrum [Eatbrain]
31. Subtone – Proverbial (Break RMX) [Full Force]
32. Dubape & Phentix – Silk Road [Mainframe]
33. Dose – Break The Habit [Abducted LTD]
34. Redpill – Corruption [Eatbrain]
35. Kursiva & Impak – Transpose [Kinetik]
36. Dose – Ambien [Abducted LTD – OUT ON MONDAY!]

Mean Teeth Tracklist

1. Mean Teeth & Merikan – Disclosure – NFG
2. ID – ID
3. Magnetude – Now Run – Lifted Music
4. VLTRN – Time Chase – Santoku Dub
5. Computerartist – Sequence – Genome Records
6. Mean Teeth – Firestorm – NFG
7. Magnetude & Julia Marks – Dead Leaves – Lifted Music
8. Akov – Bad Signal – C2D
9. Bl4ck Owlz – Bucket – Eatbrain
10. ID – ID
11. Gridlok & Hive – Gunrunner – Blackout
12. Delta Heavy – Kill Room – RAM
13. Original Sin – Mist – Viper
14. Mean Teeth – ID – ID
15. Mean Teeth – ID – ID
16. ID – ID
17. ID – ID
18. ID – ID
19. Teddy Killerz – Monkey Kingdom – RAM
20. Document One – Small Steps – Technique Recordings
21. Liveon – So Sudden – Titan
22. ID – ID
23. Prolix & Misanthrop – Transcendent ( Audio remix ) – Trendkill
24. Gydra – Rampage – C4C
25. ID -ID
26. ID -ID
27. Audio – Thunder Ridge – RAM
28. Murdock & Doctrine – Fire – Rampage
29. Doctrine – Thunder feat. Shae Jacobs – RAM

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Watch Bad Syntax record his set LIVE on 3 decks

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